She has a little Jazmine Sullivan/Chrisette Michele vibe going on. I like it. She’s a great writer, but writing doesn’t make you an artist. If she can get her performance and stage presence down, she’d be great.

Agreed Sarah! She’s got her own sound and I hope we get to hear more of it. Thanks for the comment.

Seth

wow! i love this! she’s definitely got a voice on her to rival the artists she’s been writing for, save for maybe Beyonce. I love the grit at the top of her tone and the weight of her voice, although I wish they wouldn’t have employed so much autotune on the vocal. When is that troublesome trend going to disappear?

Andrew, thanks for the comment. Let’s see if she grows on you– she can def write a hit song or 20.

apriljan

You know, I was one of the few that heard Drop It Low and I played it over and over. I was surprised that it didn’t catch on. I miss hearing that 90’s sound… it’s only fitting that Ester would bring it back!

Aw, thanks Julie. Trent and everyone else involved with PITNB have been amazing teachers– I’ve got a ways to go but I’m having a great time. So glad you’re liking the posts!

JCZ

It’s a good song – 90s R&B and Hip//Hop will forever be the greatest for those genres. But I don’t see this being the hit it deserves. Also – she has a great voice, but in do disrespect, if Bieber sounded a little manlier, this is what he would sound like.

The song, well the production is only one-dimensional. It never changes and radio won’t take to it. Urban will but Mainstream won’t. Listeners need an intro, the main beat, a breakdown before ending. This kinda just ends abruptly without the listener knowing the song is coming to an end. I just feel thats how music has become these days – very constructed, like a narrative almost.

Anyway I welcome any contemporary 90s influenced music – I more often enough crank out to 90s R&B and Hip Hop than its newer stuff these days.

JCZ wow! Thank you for those observations– you are absolutely on point. I hadn’t at all considered the song’s composition. Great to have an expert on board here.

JCZ

Would hardly say that – I absolutely love the production and the song in general. As I said, I craaaave 90s R&B and Hip/Hop.

It’s just upsetting that radio likely won’t take to this. Just an assumption. If you look at the R&B Charts, a lot of artists who constantly release Top 10 hits, hardly make an impact on the Hot 100 and these artists release the greater R&B music. Beyonce, who I’m not much of fan of, is portrayed to be THE Female R&B artist of today, which listeners would know, is quite an overrated statement IMO. Same with Chris Brown – both artists include R&B but I would preferably still call it Pop. Especially in award shows like The Grammys, where they over shadow the true R&B artists found on the R&B charts.

Ester is clearly quite talented – she has an appeal to mainstream artists with her songwriting, but obviously knows her stuff about less mainstream music such as this track, which I like to see.

A question I could raise though is; are the listeners/music buyers the blind ones when it comes to the generic/repetitive productions found by people like Dr. Luke and RedOne OR is Radio and the Labels to blame for just not having the ability to find some alternatives to at least diversify their catalog?

There is clearly a lot more to that – there’s reasons why some artists (K. Perry) continue to have radio hit after radio hit and it comes down to $$$ and their label. But we, as buyers/listeners, do hold the right to choose what we listen to in the end. I would choose this Baby Making Love over a typical RedOne Pop song.

(I’ll make a quick exception, as an Aussie, about the success of Gotye. Ironically though, it becomes a shame when such a song becomes more known for being over-played to extinction – then again, there is always ONE indie track that becomes a cross over hit, this year, we’re fortunate enough to have two so far, the other being ‘We Are Young’)

JCZ these are great points and I think we all wonder about who has control over what gets put out. I think as individuals have SOME control, which is precisely why I posted this. I think if any one artist gets enough buzz, that can make a difference in the product that gets put out. I don’t have control over the decisions made by labels, but as a consumer I can and should take a stand on what I think is good music. I think we can all do this in small ways.

Sam

Also, I get a little Lauryn Hill vibe from her voice…and I LOVE Lauryn Hill. Miseducation is my favorite album of all-time!